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Proposed minimum wage hike would take rate to $8.50 by 2016

Sun-News report

Posted:
05/17/2014 04:34:25 PM MDT

Steve MacIntyre — For the Sun-News
CAFé members, left to right, Sarah Nolan, Susan Fitzgerald and Angelica Rubio discuss a meeting Nolan and Rubio had with City
Manager Robert Garza Friday morning during a minimum wage rally outside Las Cruces City Hall. The organization is trying to gather enough signatures to force an initiative on the November general election ballot to raise the city's minimum to 10.10 by 2017. According to the group, CAFé is a faith-based nonprofit community organization in southern New Mexico established in 2009 with the purpose of training and organizing low and moderate income families to shape public policy at the local, state and national levels.

LAS CRUCES >> Las Cruces city councilors will hear the first-reading of a minimum wage proposal drafted by City Councilor Miguel Silva.

Silva, working with City Councilor Ceil Levatino, has a proposed minimum wage ordinance that would take the pay rate from the current state-set level of $7.50 per hour to $8 by July 1, 2015 and $8.50 by Jan. 1, 2016, according to agenda documents.

Starting Jan. 1, 2017, increases would be based on cost-of-living increases, if any happened in a given year, "not to exceed 2 percent," according to the proposal.

Monday's measure is a first-reading only, not the final passage.

The Silva and Levatino proposal is separate from an alternate ordinance being pursued via petition by the group, NM CAFé, a process that was stalled last week after a negative advisory opinion by the city's attorney. The group has said it's still planning to seek a three-step increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2017.

Under the NM CAFé proposal, the first increase would be to $8.40 in 2015, and the second would be to $9.40 in 2016. If the group gets a certain number of petition signatures, its ordinance would be presented to the city council for a vote. If the council rejected it, the proposal would then be placed on a ballot for voters to decide the issue, city officials have said.

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Several people in the business community have said a $10.10 increase is too high, though they support an increase of some kind. Proponents of that rate say it's needed for employees and their families to have a decent living wage.

The city council also will vote on a measure to amend pay plans for managerial jobs, support positions and positions represented by the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers Union, according to the agenda. The adjustments are based on a review in 2013 by a consultant to evaluate the market.

The meeting starts 1 p.m. Monday at Las Cruces City Hall, 700 N. Main St.

• hold a hearing about whether a liquor license should be issued to LCE LLC doing business as Pueblo Café at 1100 S. Main St., Suite 116.

• vote on awarding a bid for the Safe Routes to School road improvements project to Smith and Aguirre Construction Company Inc. for $450,514 and $34,070 for state sales tax. The award also would allow for up to $15,416 for a total project spending authorization of $500,000.

• consider OK'ing a contract with Landscape and Design Center Inc. of Las Cruces for a Sonoma Ranch Boulevard Landscape Median project. The cost would be $71,419, plus another $5,401 for sales tax. Also, another $7,142 would be authorized for project cost increases, for a total spending of about $83,962.

• vote on renewing a yearly contract at a cost of $80,372 with a company, the Albuquerque-based INX Inc. — doing business as Presidio Networked Solutions Group LLC — to get support services for the city's voice and data system.

• consider OK'ing a change order to spend an extra $113,300 — plus $8,568 in tax — to a streets repaving project that was OK'd by councilors on Feb. 18. Contractors found that water lines beneath some streets, including Sheryl Way and Cindy Place, also needed to be replaced before the routes could be resurfaced. Some of the water works were "severely corroded with minerals," and a 6-inch water main needs to be upgraded to an 8-inch line.

• consider accepting an $8,669 grant from the New Mexico Department of Health to buy "specialized needle sets for use by first response agencies throughout Doña Ana County," which will be given to first responder agencies "upon request and on an as-needed basis."

• consider accepting $4,000 from the Doña Ana County Office of Emergency Management for one Las Cruces Fire Department staff member to attend a training and certification program that teaches command officers "how to standardize local incident operations across their organization."